Lettter Head Templates

							Template: Letter to the Editor
Use this template as a final option if the local paper won’t run an advance article or
accept an op-ed piece. Adapt this letter to reflect local data, and print it on your school’s
letterhead. This template is available at www.sadd.org.



[DATE]

Dear Editor:

[NAME OF SCHOOL] SADD will join 10,000 SADD chapters across the country in
celebrating SADD’s 25th birthday on [DATE], in an event called “SADD Turns 25:
Lighting the Way.” SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions ) was founded in
1981 in Wayland, Massachusetts, and is the nation’s preeminent peer-to-peer youth
prevention education organization.

Between [DATE] and [DATE], [NAME OF SCHOOL] SADD will host activities for
students demonstrating SADD’s broad range of concerns, including impaired driving,
underage drinking and drug use, youth violence, and suicide.

A culminating community event will be held on [DATE], and the public is invited to join
students, parents, local officials, and community leaders for a fun ce lebration of SADD’s
accomplishments and a look to the future. In keeping with the “Lighting the Way” theme,
attendees will make colorful lanterns that will then be “lit” during a ceremony. The
lanterns are a physical symbol of hope and remembrance and, because each is handmade
and colorful, representative of the diversity of the community as well. In addition to
celebrating SADD’s record of achievement, the event will bring together local leaders to
focus on issues of specific concern to the community, such as underage drinking.
[PROVIDE FURTHER DETAILS OF EVENT.]

[NAME OF SCHOOL] SADD has worked since [FOUNDING YEAR] in
[TOWN/CITY/COUNTY] to help educate their peers about the risks of destructive
decisions and learning avoidance strategies. In recent years, our activities have included
[INSERT LOCAL ACTIVITY HISTORY].

To mark this important occasion, Governor [NAME] and [NAME/TITLE OF LOCAL
OFFICIAL] have declared [DATE] as “SADD Day” in [NAME OF LOCAL
COMMUNITY/STATE]. (INCLUDE IF PROCLAMATIONS HAVE BEEN ISSUED)

This celebration serves as a valuable opportunity to demonstrate [NAME OF SCHOOL]
SADD’s commitment and efforts to reduce destructive decisions among area youth, and
we hope to see the public there!

[INSERT CONTACT INFORMATION]